


Soulmates among the Speaking Peoples

by SpaceWall



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Love, M/M, Oral History, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-16
Updated: 2018-03-16
Packaged: 2019-03-31 23:42:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13985808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWall/pseuds/SpaceWall
Summary: A History of Soulmates among the Speaking Peoples of Middle Earth, from Finwë to the Fourth Age.





	Soulmates among the Speaking Peoples

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, why is there like 30 Silmarillion Soulmate stories? This is an outrage! But the good news is, it left room for this weird thing, which now exists. Enjoy!

It was once the custom of the Quendi to meet their matches before they finished their first century, be they marked with the forest green of the familial, which were said to have shown the first elves who among them was kin, or the thousand shades of blue of the platonic, or the fierce scarlet of romance. They knew the marks could appear anywhere, and in near any configuration or number. But one constant was this: each mark had a match, at least one, and that match was your soul’s mate. Everyone found theirs, the Quendi said, and the sooner the better.

Finwë had a platonic mark, which twined up the length of his arm. Every elf in Valinor knew of its mate. Elwë. They pitied their king, whose only soulmate had abandoned him in favour of another. His queen Míriel did not pity him, for she believed she was unmarked, and thus was free to choose her own destiny. It was not until later, when she grew sick, and her hair began to fall out, that they saw the vibrant scarlet of a mark across her scalp. That was when they realized they’d made a horrible mistake. 

Indis was not unmarked. She had a small green mark like a kiss upon her cheek, which was said to be a match to all her children. Curufinwë Fëanáro didn’t have one, and that was how everyone knew which of Finwë’s children didn’t belong. 

Fëanáro had two soulmate marks, one red and the other green. The red mark was a match to Nerdanel, who was his heart. The green was unmatched, but Fëanáro staunchly believed that one of its like was hidden somewhere on his mother’s body. He had never tried to look anywhere else, for he had no other kin, save his father and children, who he knew did not share his mark. 

As for Nerdanel and Fëanáro’s children, their parents worried greatly about their marks. Maitimo in particular, for he passed his first century with no match to his mark. It was as red as blood, and stretched across the entirety of his right hand, palm and all. Whoever matched it assuredly had seen, and Fëanáro feared greatly that his son had been rejected. The rest of their children were less immediately cause for concern, but Nerdanel and Fëanáro worried no less. Ambarussa had matching marks, not just in shape and colour but in position as well, which was rare and considered very good luck. This was the cause for their matching mother-names. Curufinwë and Makalaurë had both found their matches, blessedly, each one romantic, and they had each become wed. Makalaurë had a green mark as well, but as it matched none of his siblings or parents, it was likely as not he would someday have a child or children who matched to him. As Indis did to her own children. Carnistir had a romantic mark as well, sprawling across his face like a sunburn, and had not found its mate. But he was much younger than Maitimo, and had time yet to do so. 

That left only Tyelkormo to cause legitimate worry. The third of their children had two marks, blue and red, across his chest. He claimed not to know their matches, but since he asserted this frequently and loudly, his parents strongly suspected it not to be true. Fëanáro was, quite madly, convinced that Nolofinwë was forcing him to hide them, and that at least one of the soulmates was one of Nolofinwë’s children. (The second part of this theory was true enough). The children of Nolofinwë were famously cautious with their marks. This was, perhaps, because their father was said to have an unmatched mark, which he hid from all the world. Of the four children of Nolofinwë, only Turukáno was known to have found his matches, a romantic to his wife Elenwë, and a platonic to his cousin Findaráto. 

Speaking of Findaráto, his siblings had equally poor luck in love to that of their cousins. Of them, only Findaráto had found all of his matches, while the others anguished over unmatched marks. Artanis’s romantic was, famously, a sprinkling of stars that stretched all the way down both arms and across her shoulders. Privately, all her family thought the absence of her match was a great tragedy. But at least her brothers were the same, and she was not alone. 

It was not until many years later that they would realize the reason for this. For the children of Arafinwë, all save Findaráto, had elven matches on the far shore (this was, perhaps, where they were destined to be). Findaráto too found cause for great concern over a mark when, many, many years after his birth, he gained a new mark. This at the birth of a mortal soulmate, was one of the first of its kind, and though the life it marked was short indeed, for an elf, it stained his skin forever after. 

On those far shores, Lúthien, whose father was so long ago matched to Finwë, danced in the starlight. She was known to be unmarked, and loved all the more for it. When, many years later, a mark blossomed over her neck, her father refused to believe it. This was cause for much strife, and much death, but in the end, as all do, Lúthien found her match, and loved him, until the end of her days.

Before that, in a time of different strife and death, Maitimo, now called Maedhros, became the first of the Noldor to lose not just his match, but the mark entire, in the battle against the enemy. It was said that the enemy could destroy marks. People whispered, behind the backs of both princes, that Maedhros had ordered his hand cut off, so as not to be forced to see it markless, and know that he would never find his match. 

(In point of fact, Maedhros had found his match, many, many years before this, and could have saved his mother much worry had he simply out and told the truth of his relationship with Fingon.)

Such is the nature of war, that marks are sundered and matches are lost. The new generation, born in this time, matched later or sometimes not at all. More frequent were those born without marks of any kind, though, bearing in mind the story of Míriel Serinde, almost all of them shaved their heads to check. Gil-galad, last-born of the house of Finwë, was blessed to be marked. He had only one, a sky-blue platonic on his ankle, but still this gave him cause for great worry. For who, he wondered, would bear this match? Would he ever have the chance to meet them? 

He did, for this mark was matched to Elrond Peredhel, who was considered far and wide a being of great fortune. He was one of a select few to be blessed with exactly one of each type of mark. A single romantic, a single platonic, and a single familial. Later in life, he would be considered to be of far less fortune, for he had lost all three, to one path or another. 

Before Elrond lost his soulmates, he met them. Elros, who he was born and raised with, whose green matched in size and location as well as shape, was the first. It is said that it is the luck of their perfectly matched marks that saved them from the terror of the sons of Fëanor. And this did save them, but not because they were blessed. It saved them because, so many centuries earlier, the marks of Ambarussa had been perfect matches to each other. And this stopped Maedhros the Markless in his tracks, for he could not help but look at the Peredhel twins, and think of his own brothers. Together, he and Maglor (who had, perhaps, placed some significance of his own in the marks) raised them. 

Elrond and Elros thought for many years that Maedhros had never met his match, but when he explained the marks to them, and the importance of trust and respect in soulmate relationships (a speech which every parent must give, sooner or later, for fear of raising one such as Eöl), he told them of his own mark, and its mate, and the loss of these. And that was how they became members of a very exclusive club, two of the half dozen people who ever knew Fingon and Maedhros were matched. 

Maedhros also, quite inadvertently, facilitated Elrond’s meeting of his platonic soulmate, for it was he who sent Elrond to Gil-galad. This was fortuitous, for after Maedhros’s final fall, it was Gil-galad who would hold him, and offer what comfort he could. 

Elrond’s third soulmate, Celebrían, never met his first. Elros died, of quite natural causes, very far from her home, and without his soulmate at his side. Of all Elrond’s regrets, this numbered highest. 

As this occurred, Celebrimbor, last scion of Fëanor’s house, gained his first and only mark. He told no one, and showed no one. There was none left for him to show, and, since it was on his thigh, he had a choice about the matter. Until, at least, a century or a few later, a stranger arrived in Eregion. This stranger bore his mark on his hand, as Celebrimbor remembered Maedhros once had. It was Celebrimbor’s match, and he knew it didn’t make sense, for surely a mortal mark must match one to a mortal- but there it was. And who was he to challenge the marks? There was no surer way to be wrong. 

(Not challenging it was the greatest mistake Celebrimbor ever lived to make.)

Narvi never met his match. But perhaps it was just as well. Dwarven marks were usually hidden, from all save their Ones, as most dwarves found such things a distraction from their true callings. And after all, whose company could have compared to that of unmarked Celebrimbor? 

Gil-galad did not die alone. He died in battle, in glory, and Elrond, bearing witness, screamed. Most elves there had seen one lose a soulmate before, but that didn’t make it any less horrifying. They averted their eyes, and thus many of them missed Isildur severing Sauron’s ring from his finger. Elrond saw. Elrond saw everything, and later, when he tried to convince Isildur to destroy the ring, the young king accused him of being made mad by grief. But he was not. The son of Maedhros the Markless would not break at such things.

In these trying times, Elrond held what he had left close. Celebrían, whose sprawling, dappled mark spanned her back, Imladris, which sprawled like a mark in and of itself, and the people in it. Glorfindel, who stood by his friend in these troubled times, had a deep blue mark on his shoulder. It had been on his neck, before the balrog’s whip burned it off. This gave Elrond some hope for Maedhros, a person for whom Elrond had not hoped in a long time. 

Thoughts of his father were interrupted by the birth of his sons. Like Elrond and Elros before them, and Amrod and Amras three ages and more ago, they were perfectly matched. Elrond wondered how many twins shared this, and how many of them were thought lucky for it. 

As though all Elrond’s children were destined to take after ancestors, Arwen was born as unmarked as Lúthien. They even shaved her head to be sure, but there was no mark hidden there. It was not until after her mother was gone from these shores that Arwen gained her mark. Elrond had wept to see it, but no more than Arwen had. For it was a red blossom at her collarbone, and she knew that it meant she would die. It meant that she would never see her mother again.

Aragorn, called many names (not the least of which was Strider), spent many years fearing that he had misidentified his match. After all, how could someone like Arwen be bonded to someone like him? It was wrong. But when he came of age, and was told of his family, Elrond also told Aragorn the truth of his match. Though he wished things were otherwise, Elrond was no Thingol. He would not deny a mark. 

(He might have, if Arwen had wanted him to, but she did not.)

When Bilbo came to stay in Imladris, soon after these events, he was fascinated by elven marks. For hobbits were marked rarely, if at all, and almost never romantically. Bilbo, for his part, had a romantic mark. The only romantic recorded in all the shire within five years of his birth. He had never found its match, and said he did not expect to. His nephew Frodo, he said, had a mark which matched to three other lads in the shire. They, Bilbo was sure, would have great destinies. For it seemed to him that all those with great destinies had famous marks. 

He was right about their destinies. But he always wished that he wasn’t. In fact, he was right about those with great destinies in general. Of the members of the fellowship, everyone save the wizard was marked. Aragorn was Arwen’s, the four hobbits had each other, Legolas had a mortal mark, unmatched, but he would not remain unmatched for the course of the journey. For it was Gimli, son of Gloin, who was his match. Gimli, being a dwarf, kept his mark well hidden, but seeing Legolas’s, he found he could not keep such a secret. Boromir, last of the fellowship, had a familial mark, green blossoming across his chest, though none of the others knew until it had become so punctured by arrows as to be unrecognizable. 

Faramir, who bore its match, had no other mark. But Éowyn of Rohan was unmarked as Míriel had once believed herself to be, and so they found each other, and chose the love that was left to them. 

In the aftermath of the War of the Ring, the last of the elves began to depart for Aman. Galadriel left with sorrow, for in the choice between her romantic match and her family, she chose her family. Celeborn might follow, but that was up to him. Elrond left with trepidation, for he feared what he might find on the far shore. One match, or two, or none at all. Bilbo left with hope, for he alone of all the ringbearers had nothing, no match, no daughter, no friend, left in all of Middle Earth. 

Maglor Fëanorion did not sail. He had been sundered from his romantic match for years beyond counting, and his penance was not yet done. In the end, he went to the lands that had once been Lothlórien, and wandered there. As Arwen Undómiel passed, he held her hands, and made sure she was not alone. They were not matched, but at a time like that, it didn’t matter. They were kin (by Maglor’s match to her father), and he was there. 

Elrohir and Elladan sailed together. After they arrived, when a red mark bloomed on Elladan as it once had on Arwen, they wondered if they had made a mistake. But this way, at least, they were not making it alone.

In Aman, many elves were reborn, Gil-galad not the least of them. Reunited with his remaining soulmates, Elrond remembered what it was to smile. 

(If he sometimes felt that he was missing a match, as if it were a limb, he spoke naught of it.)

Gil-galad’s mark had moved to curl around his wrist like a bracelet. It seemed like all those who were reborn found that their marks had returned, if often in different places than they had left them. Fingolfin’s unmatched mark, a vibrant, unabashed green, now stood stark along the lines of his jaw. (When Nerdanel first saw it, she wept, for she had seen the matching mark a thousand times and knew it like her own. She never told Fingolfin this.) Reborn, Amrod and Amras found they were no longer in possession of a perfect match, for Amrod’s had not moved, but Amras’s had. Fingon, whose mark had once been carefully hidden, now bore his mark wrapped like a collar around his neck. The pattern was vibrant red as it had always been, and continued to resemble feathers. The people of Tirion remembered it well as Maitimo’s. Those who knew Fingon were shocked. Those who loved him were not surprised at all.

Still, every mark reappeared. Save one. When Maedhros Fëanorion was reborn, his mark was nowhere to be found. He locked himself away, speaking to nobody. He especially avoided Fingon, for his missing mark stared back at him from the neck of his beloved, and the sight of it made him nauseous. Fingon was still marked, still had a match somewhere out there. Maedhros did not. In the end, only Elrond could coax him out. For Elrond was, by popular reckoning, the only elf to ever lose an (almost) immortal soulmate. He knew Maedhros’s pain. 

He embraced his father, and, after much coaxing, convinced him to shave his head. In the long years since the death of Míriel, a shaved head among the elves had become a sign of a lost soulmate, a sign of loneliness and grief. (At least, this is the reasoning Elrond used to convince Maedhros)

There, blending into red hair so perfectly it would have been impossible to see, was a mark the colour of romance. Maedhros, looking at it in a set of mirrors, wept tears of joy, and fled in search of his match.

**Author's Note:**

> So, here is my weird side project which I wrote because I'm procrastinating on Dawn and I had a dream about it (no really, I just sort of woke up with this in my brain). If there's anyone in this where you're wondering if they're implied to be soulmates but not sure (Celebrimbor and Narvi, for example, or Celegorm and Aredhel)- ASK. There's like a lot of stuff I couldn't find room to put in here with the flow of the story. All of Gondolin basically, for example.


End file.
